WSJ: Amazon To Roll Out Netflix-like Ebook Lending Service?

According to a Wall Street Journal report yesterday sourcing “people familiar with the matter,” Amazon, maker of the Kindle ereader, is currently in talks with publishers about a potential Netflix-like model for ebooks. Via the model subscribers could access a “digital-book library” of ebooks as part of a $79 annual Amazon Prime membership.

According to unnamed sources for the article, Amazon is planning to create an accessible catalog of “older titles” for the program, with a limit on the number of ebooks that members would be able to read each month using the service. Publishers are being offered a “substantial fee” to take part, according to sources, but whether any have signed on so far remains “unclear.”

As LJreported in April, Amazon is planning to unveil ebook library lending functionality for the Kindle later this year to integrate with pre-existing OverDrive ebook library catalogs. The Kindle is currently the only major dedicated ereader without library lending capability.

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